The House of the Red Mask

For decades, the abandoned house outside town had been known as the House of the Red Mask. Children said that at midnight on Halloween, a masked face appeared in an upstairs window and watched anyone foolish enough to pass.

Hugo, Léa, Julien and Sophie decided to go inside. The front door was unlocked. Dust covered everything except a narrow path leading upstairs, as though someone still walked through the house every night.

They found dozens of red masks hanging from the walls, each one different. In the attic, an old projector suddenly began to run, showing films of Halloween parties that had taken place in the house many years before.

One film ended with a fire. The owner, a mask maker, had tried to rescue the guests but died before he could reach the last room. The red mask seen in the window was not a killer’s mask. It was the one he had worn while searching through the smoke.

A locked door behind the projector began to shake. The friends opened it and found a box of photographs and letters belonging to the families who had attended the final party. When they carried the box outside, the figure appeared at the window one last time.

The next morning the red mask was gone. Years later, the restored house became a small local museum. Every 31 October, visitors still claim that one attic window fogs from the inside, even when the room is empty.